Presenting Maricela

Meet my friend, Maricela. Her and I met stomping around in our Mexican folklorico group in college.  Since then, homegirl has come a long way. She has been a bilingual elementary school teacher for years, and she even went back to school and got her Masters in Creative Writing. Not bad for a Jalisciense eye browed girl from East Los. She is one of my friends that I truly admire. We met up recently to go thrifiting, as she had never been with me before. Here's the account in her own words. She flogs (fake blogs) on her Facebook page, and emails me the tales, since I don't have a Facebook.

I envy Sophia's savviness and thriftiness for fashion. That's why I decided to try it. I, thankfully, didn't inherit my mother's shopaholic gene but don't underestimate the power of clothing. I mean, I was frustrated last night over what I was going to wear on my outing today. I'm frustrated because my closet is lacking anything trendy due mostly in part to my decreased paycheck. That was the main reason behind this new interest. I was really hoping to find cute and fun things to wear on my non-working days. And for my first thrifting experience, I think it went well.

The first thing Sophia taught me today is that there is more than what you see when it comes to articles of clothing. You can't just take a sequenced, pink bow tie for what it is. You have to use your imagination and get creative to make things work for you. Cutting, gluing, and sewing it back into another form are fair game.

That's when I spotted a purple, see-through, stringy thing. Sophia would know exactly what it was called but since I only shop for specific events, I buy whatever there is to buy within my budget of $15 or less. It was half a blouse and it had shoulder pads I could remove.

"Have you noticed," I asked Sophia, "how they're selling half-shirts for the full price?" Yeah, that's been bugging me when I go retail shopping.

After I found two more blouses, a pair of "Zumba" pants, and a pleated skirt for work, Sophia and I headed to the dressing rooms to make a show of our findings.

It was fun modeling what we'd deemed stylish for each other. I first tried on the purple blouse.

"I remind myself of JLO in In Living Color in this," I told Sophia. "with my tight jeans, the boots, and my short hair." All I needed to do was the Running Man.

$8 later, I walked out a thrifting-virgin no more!

I, Sophia, got these shoes for 2 dollars.

I know some people don't dig the idea of shopping at thrift stores but this is my take on it. I donate clothes regularly to my local Salvation Army truck located conveniently a block away from my apartment. Some of the stuff I give is new, tags still attached, other is stuff I wore once, and the rest if stuff that doesn't fit anymore. I never give clothes away that look like rags. I assume that someone could benefit from clothes that I don't wear and vice versa. Someone else's trash can become your treasure.

With that said, I can't wait to find the appropriate outing to show off my great $4 find!

Happy hunting to you!